PILOT ENERGY has signed an agreement to provide ammonia from the Mid West clean energy project in the Perth Basin to fuel coal-fired power plants in Korea.
In a stock exchange announcement on 16 January Pilot said its deal with a Korean consortium would go ahead based on the announcement last November of $2.2 million funding from Korea Export-Import Bank.
Korea Southern Power Co will enter into a project development agreement to secure equity participation in the project.
Pilot will test the market by providing a front end engineering design to contractors who will develop autothermal reforming reactors, which convert purified natural gas into hydrogen fuel; or steam methane reforming which adds oxygen to partially combust reformed gas to raise the processed gas temperature, to provide solutions for blue hydrogen production that are optimised to balance cost and carbon intensity
The front end engineering package will be provided to contractors by 15 January 2025 with responses required by 15 March 2025.
The stock exchange announcement said the Korea Consortium will conduct an Independent technical study by engaging an independent engineering advisor funded by the KEXIM grant.
The study will recommend the preferred technology and project contractor.
The project development agreement is planned to be signed by 30 June 2025 subject to obtaining all Korean governmental approvals, which includes the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
In the November funding announcement, Korea Southern Power said the Mid West Clean Ammonia Project, was in response to the Korean government’s call for a secure, stable and economical clean fuel supply chain.
The project aims to produce and introduce approximately 1 million tons of clean ammonia annually by utilising existing offshore oil field infrastructure in the Arrowsmith region of Western Australia.
The project, which produces hydrogen through the reforming of natural gas, plans to capture the carbon dioxide generated during the hydrogen production process.
The captured carbon dioxide will be stored using the existing infrastructure of the Cliff Head offshore oil field, including the reservoir and pipeline, which is expected to be depleted by 2026, thereby ensuring the project’s commercial viability.
